Todd Blair and Vanessa Blair v. Southern Farm Bureau Insurance Company, Industrial Support System, Inc.

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

TODD BLATR AND VANESSA BLAIR NO. 2025 CW 0624
VERSUS

LOUISIANA FARM BUREAU

CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY,

INDUSTRIAL SUPPORT SYSTEM,

INC., ROD BRAUD AND JEFFERY

DIEZ, IN HIS INDIVIDUAL AND

OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS OFFICER OCTOBER 31, 2025
OF INDUSTRIAL SUPPORT

SYSTEM, INC.

In Re: Industrial Support System, Inc., applying for
supervisory writs, 23rd Judicial District Court, Parish
of Ascension, No. 134617.

BEFORE: LANIER, WOLFE, AND HESTER, JJ.

WRIT GRANTED. The district court’s April 9, 2025 judgment
which denied the motion for summary judgment filed by defendant,
Industrial Support System, Inc., is reversed. For liability to
attach under La. Civ. Code art. 2317.1, the plaintiff must prove
that: (1) the property that caused the damage was in the custody
of the defendant; (2) the property had a condition that created an
unreasonable risk of harm; (3) the unreasonably dangerous
condition was a cause in fact of the resulting injury; and (4) the
defendant had actual or constructive knowledge of the risk.
Batiste v. Erin Covington, LP, 2019-0261 (La. App. lst Cir.
12/11/19), 291 So.3d 710, 714-15. Plaintiffs alleged that
decedent, Devin Blair, was hired to inspect a tree on the property
and cut the felled limbs and/or the remainder of the damaged tree
following a storm. We find defendant had no duty to warn Devin
Blair of, or protect him from, hazards relating to the very
condition which he was hired to address and remedy. McCarroll v.
Prime Cut Law Care & Tractor Work, LLC, 2010-1638 (La. App. Ist
Cir. 3/25/11), 2011 WL 1104132, at *5. See also Pryor v. CCRR
Properties, LLC, 2025-254 (La. App. 3d Cir. 10/22/25), -- So.3d -
-, 2025 WL 2967572. Accordingly, the motion for summary judgment
is granted, and plaintiffs’ claims against defendant, Industrial
Support System, Inc., are dismissed.

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COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

DEPUTY CLERK OF COURT
FOR THE COURT